Quick Green Reads For The Weekend Volume 133.

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Building a compost bin or compost heap is very basic – you don’t need much room or tons of materials, and once its built, the microbes do most of the work for you!

The agricultural giant Monsanto may well still be the world’s most hated company. The company that brought the world Agent Orange (Editor’s Note – Thanks for that one, guys, toxicity of it hit me personally), the defoliant of choice in the Vietnam War, followed up a decade ago with a strident push to flood the world with genetically modified crops. It alienated millions- and even its friends and rivals among GM supporters blamed Monsanto’s belligerence for putting back the cause by many years. But I’m going to ignore GMs and talk about water. And belligerence.

It’s yet another wrinkle in the heated climate talks between rich nations and developing ones: the latest UN report on developing nations’ energy needs has found that in order for them to grow without contributing heavily to climate change, they’re going to need at least a stunning $500 billion a year to do so.

For over two years I’ve focused on personal change: eliminating disposable plastic from my life, reducing my energy consumption, and living as simply as possible. But when I step out my front door, the evidence of overconsumption and waste smacks me squarely in the head: piles of trash, pallets of cheap plastic crap, plastic bags and bottles and packaging. Turning on the TV, I am bombarded by messages to Buy. More. Stuff!

Michael Pollan says: John Mackey’s views on health care, much as I disagree with them, will not prevent me from shopping at Whole Foods. I can understand why people would want to boycott, but it’s important to play out the hypothetical consequences of a successful boycott. Whole Foods is not perfect, however if they were to disappear, the cause of improving Americans’ health by building an alternative food system, based on more fresh food, pastured and humanely raised meats and sustainable agriculture, would suffer.